Well, this was kind of a last minute decision as I was not sure if I was going to be attending, but when my parents gave the ok to go, I was out the door. I hooked up the GPS and drove to the bank to get some cash. After that, I drove towards the highway. I got out to the furthest turn lane and for a second or two I glanced and the GPS, and WHAM! I hit the back of the Range Rover in front of me. I use “hit” very loosely her as I just scratched their bumper and dented my license plate. We exchanged information and my parents came down to check out everything and to see if I was ok. I kept my composure until they came as I kind of lost it when they drove up because I had no idea how they would react. Luckily, they weren’t angry and ended up letting me continue on my drive to Dallas.

Anyways, I arrived at the venue at around 2:45 and the doors opened at 3:00, so I went ahead and bought my ticket then went back to stand in the long line that weaved through the parking lot. I got into the venue at around 3:15 and walked directly to the merch stands. The Black Dahlia Murder had sold out of everything except a $50 hoodie and I wasn’t about to buy that, so I purchased a patch for $5. Then I went to the stands in the actual concert room and I bought a Fleshgod Apocalypse with the Agony artwork for $15. I had to use a lot of one’s because their merch guy only had Euro’s in his wallet! I then proceeded to walk around and people watched until the first band came on to play.

Within the Ruins- I had heard of these guys prior to the show but I had never listened to them, so it was all new to me. They seemed to have quite a bit of energy on the stage and got some crowd interaction despite them being the opening band. To be honest, I thought they sounded a lot like Whitechapel but with a few more guitar solos. Maybe it was the singers’ voice, I don’t know. I didn’t think that they were anything particularly special but they were pretty fun. 6.5/10

Fleshgod Apocalypse- One of the main reasons I went to Summer Slaughter. Their mix of death metal with classical elements is simply amazing. The crowd up front (where I was) didn’t seem to be moving as much as I had anticipated them to. They were probably just in awe of their mesmerizing stage presence! After their show I went back and met all of the members and had them sign my ticket! They were really cool and I did the cliché “Awesome show out there.” I didn’t know what else to say! I forgot to say that after their show, their whole merch booth was flooded with people. So they must have been in awe! Anyways, they put on a killer performance. 10/10

As Blood Runs Black- I watched them from afar and walked around the venue during their set, but from what I saw, they were great at getting the crowd going. I thought they were pretty good even though I had heard only a handful of songs. I’ll definitely say that they are probably one of the better deathcore bands out there. They talked about how they were from LA and represented the Lakers and then went on to congratulate your NBA Champions, THE DALLAS MAVERICKS! Yeah, that’s right. Awesome show and I’ll definitely check them out in the near future. 7.5/10

Powerglove- I was waiting for them because I wanted to see how the crowd reacted to such an awesome, nerdy band like Powerglove. At first everyone was a little skeptical, but when they threw out the bird, chaos ensued. The bouncers had to break up a fight between a few people because of it. They also threw out the inflatable swords and hammers which was great to see people slapping each other with them in the pits. Then the moment had finally come for them to play “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” I was singing my heart out on this one and I don’t know if a lot were, but who cares. They played Mario next and I went wild in the pits! The singer threw out the whole bag of Starburst and none flew out, so I grabbed the whole bag and put it in mine. It was a very entertaining live show to say the least. 9/10

Dying Fetus- I’ve heard great things about these guys live from my friend George, so I was pretty stoked to see them. They hit the stage and the crowd went wild. The pits started opening up and it was insane. I jumped in and seemed to be one of the smallest (weight-based) people in there! 155lbs does not match up to most of the people in the pit, but I managed. Even though they don’t move around on stage, they still put a great show because of the crowd. They’re the ones who really make a Dying Fetus show fun in my opinion. If you’re looking to throw down then hit up a Dying Fetus show and I promise you won’t be disappointed. After their set I met John and got a picture with him. You were supposed have bought a shot glass, but I told him that I don’t drink and he was cool with that and still let me get a picture. 8/10

The Faceless- At first I thought there was another band added to the Texas dates, but Darkest Hour apparently wasn’t playing those three dates. That’s why I was a little upset initially because I thought there would be shorter set times. I was wrong. I enjoyed their set even though I wasn’t too familiar with their material, but it was pretty cool to see live. All I could think was how they could perform that live because of their technicality, but they pulled it off and sounded great. The crowd seemed dead during their entire set even though there was a small pit in the middle. I enjoyed it and will get into more now that I’ve seen them. Cool show, bad crowd. 7/10

Whitechapel- Alright, I’ll admit that they’re one of the deathcore bands that I enjoy, so I was pretty excited to see them for the first time even though they’re on like every other tour nowadays. I figured there set would be pretty standard and it was. They came out and they all sounded great. It was a couple of songs in that I noticed Phil was getting lazy on his vocals. It reminded me of Vincent from The Acacia Strain at Warped Tour. Great band, but live, they vocalists don’t bring their ‘A’ game. It was disappointing but the crowd got really into it and that made up for it. Hopefully everyone in the band will give it their all next time they roll into town. 7/10

The Black Dahlia Murder- These melo-death giants were the main reason for me attending this year’s Summer Slaughter. I’ve had to miss them the previous two times they have been through Dallas and I wasn’t going to miss them again. Their setlist was absolutely phenomenal even though it lacked ‘The Window’ from their newest record. I was so stoked to finally see one of my favorite bands! I had heard a lot about their live performance but never had a first- hand experience. They hit the stage with a bang and all hell broke loose. Crowd surfers were everywhere and the pit nearly engulfed the entire floor. Trevor knows how to work a crowd and had everybody chanting and singing along. I got up to the rail but once ‘What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse’ came on, I had to go into the pit. I moshed for a little while then decided to crowd surf out. They were firing on all cylinders tonight and even Trevor, despite him struggling a bit on vocals, gave everything he had. They played through the rest of their set and up next was ‘I Will Return’. Back into the pit I went and once again crowd surfed my way out, but this time I got punched in the balls. Ouch. They closed their set with ‘Funeral Thirst’ and pretty much every band came out on stage and had a giant sword fight on stage with Powerglove’s inflatable weapons! This was a sight to behold! It was a spectacular performance by The Black Dahlia Murder. 10/10

The last day of summer was an eventful day to say the least with me running into a car and going to see killer bands on Summer Slaughter. This was by far my favorite concert of the year with Terror and Weezer close behind. It was just an awesome way to end the summer before my senior year!

And as much as I love Black Dahlia Murder, and Whitechapel, AND Dying Fetus, The Faceless are without a doubt my favorite band on that lineup. And that absolutely sucks that the crowd wasn't into them. Damn. I hope they get a better reception on their next eventual tour for the new album.